Folkston Funnel railfanning

[Seaboard1968]

I'm new to this forum. I am a Seaboard fan first and therefore a defacto CSX fan. This questions has probably been asked before. Can anyone give me a good idea what the best time of day is to railfan the Folkston Funnel? I'm planning on taking my 4 year old son, who is totally crazy over trains. I live about 2 hours south of Folkston. I need to be able to
go there hangout for a hour or two see some trains and leave. Four year old little boys are not real patient. I have been told that the 0900-1100 hrs is a good timeframe. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Seaboard1968

[Noel Weaver]

I have stopped over several different times at Folkston enroute to or from the northeast. Evenings are pretty good as a rule
with two NB Amtraks, 98 and the Auto Train, Train 98 is scheduled to leave Jacksonville at 5:33 PM so you are looking at
approximately 6:00 PM or so and 98 sould go by around 7:00 PM give or take. You can also expect to see several freight
trains both north and south between 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM and even more after 8:00 PM.
You could also expect to do good early in the morning with Amtrak 97 sometime after 8:00 AM and the Auto Train probably
ahead of 97. There should also be some freight around those hours too.
In the past midday was also pretty good but I am not sure how that is today.
If you have a laptop, they have WIFI there at the train watching site and there is ATCS coverage in that area too so it would
not be too difficult to figure what is coming.
Noel Weaver

[Seaboard1968]

Thanks for the info. I was planning to go up this saturday morning, but now it may be closer to lunch time before I get there. My wife had a "slight" change in schedule. I was shooting for early morning. So...now I'm wondering if it'll be a total waste to get there in the late morning or around lunch time.

[jdamelio]

If you get there at noon with only a 2 hour stay I think you will be disappointed. Traffic dies near noon and then picks up near 3.

[Noel Weaver]

On my trip this week from Fort Lauderdale to the Albany, NY area I stopped for a short break at Folkston Tuesday AM between 8:30 AM and 10:00 AM. While pumping gas nearby
two trains went through and when I went to the site after the gas stop, another 5 trains went through in about a 40 minute period. After the 5th train at about 9:15 AM, the
ATCS showed nothing more around anytime soon so I went for a late breakfast nearby and then hit the road. I used US-301 north from there all the way to Santee, SC which was
THE way to go before I-95 got finished in Georgia. It cost me some time and a wrong turn in Statesboro, GA and heavy traffic in Orangeburg, SC cost me some more. All in all I
made 1508 miles in 44 and 1/2 hours which is pretty good for me, in fact I think this might have been the fastest running time ever. I wonder how well it could have been if I
had headed back to I-95 at Folkston and used the fast road.
Noel Weaver